Not Quite Dead
by Taya Guevera
Summary: Alec and Mischa are in Australia, managing to stay 3 steps ahead of White while Logan is having trouble keeping the mission a secret from Max
1. Prologue

**Not Quite Dead **-_Taya Guevera_

**DISCLAIMER:**

I don't own Dark Angel, any of it's characters or anything to do with the show. They're all property of the Powers That Be (and we all know who that is). So please don't sue me for using 'em!

**PAIRINGS:**

Truthfully, haven't decided yet since it's based around an original character, but we'll see how we go.

**SETTING**:

2021 - Non pulse affected Australia - then to the pulse affected US

**SPOILERS:**

Seriously doubt there are any seeing as the show's been off for a while now… ;)

* * *

****

**PROLOGUE**

I'm sitting in front of the television, happily eating my Lasange when a news bulletin stops the show that I was watching.

"What the hell? Put it back on you morons!"

As I sit and flick through all the channels, I realise that this isn't just a normal news bulletin. As I watch the images and listen to the reporter, I begin to feel myself tense up.

"Here in Seattle, hundreds of transgenics have barricaded themselves in the sector which is known to locals as Terminal City. These transgenics are believed that have escaped from a secret Government agency called Manticore. As you can see from the footage, these transgenics have, what can only be described as super human strength and reflexes. There has been an uneasy truce here since early this morning, but many fear that the violence will erupt again, and soon."

I turned it off. I didn't want to know. Well, that was a lie, but what could I say? I'm sitting here, in my own apartment, near the beach, chillin' by myself on a Friday night. Outside, it's a peaceful society, no pulse happenin' here, and everything's just peachy. I have a job, a place of my own, friends, hell, even a make up family. Why would I want to get involved in something that's happening way over in Seattle?

I look down at my food, and suddenly, I don't have the appetite for it anymore. I can always eat it some other time. I go into the kitchen and put it into the fridge. I look at my microwave and it says that the time is 12:45am. I'm not tired. So I grab my jacket and keys and decide to go for a ride to clear my head.

I choose the coastal road, because it's not that busy this time of night, and decide to let my bike have it's head. To feel the wind blowing through my hair at 200kph is great. It reminds me how free I am. And how free I want to stay.

Here in Australia, they don't know much about transgenics or Manticore. Hell, they're all so happy living their own lives that they probably wouldn't even care all that much. That's what I love about this place. From what I've read and been told, it's always been the same here. When the Pulse went off in America, Australia just kept chuggin' along at it's own pace, not paying anyone no mind. Just doin' their own thing. No wonder I ended up here.

I pull up to the lights and watch as cars with their owners go through them. Green, Amber, Red… it's all the same. A sports car pulls up next to me, and I glance, can't help it, their stereo is up so loud, and there's this awesome beat coming out of it. I listen to the words and smile at the irony of it.

"_Freak…..Freak…I'm a freak…"_

The guys in the car lean out their windows, whistle and try to make conversation. I smile at them and take off as soon as the lights turn green. If only they knew how right that song was. I may look Australian, I may sound Australian, but I'm not. I was born in the USA in 1999. In a secret Government Lab. I have brothers and sisters that aren't biologically my own, but our circumstances were the same. We became a family. We were raised to be the perfect soldiers. To be killing machines. Our DNA strands were messed up so we have different abilities than the regular Joe. It sets us apart, in more ways than one. Our mission, from the moment we were born, was to be the best of the best. To protect our country. We were made to be perfect. Our designation was X5. But one night in 2009, our mission changed.

I know that 12 of my brothers and sisters escaped. They told me that. When they realised the potential disaster that it created, they put me in a different area to the other X series, especially the remaining X5's. They didn't want anyone to know about me. I did what they wanted, pretended to be what they wanted me to be. After a while, I was cleared for deep cover missions. After my second one, I blazed. I got the hell out of Dodge. So what if the mission got postponed. At least I still made it. Why did I chose Perth? Well, it's about as far from Gillette, Wyoming as I could get.

I can hear you ask, why wouldn't you want to get involved in the going's on of Terminal City? They're your family. I'll break it down for you. It's quite simple. No one knows that I made it out. That night, when we were about to escape, I was the one carrying the gun, so Zack could help Max. I was the one how faced Lydecker in the corridor in front of my family. I was the one who knew that he wouldn't hurt one of his prized children. He knew it, and I knew it. But he couldn't risk it. I was the one who got shot in the chest in front of my family. To them, I'm dead. They don't know that I made it.

My designation is X5-766. My chosen name is Eva.


	2. The Truth

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter One_**

_Taya Guevera _

Getting home from her ride, Mischa dug out the package that she had 'obtained' from Manticore's computer systems 18 months earlier. Looking at it brought back all the memories from that fateful night twelve years ago.

From the moment she had regained consciousness in the recovery room, she had known that from now on, everything would be different. When the clones of the escaped X5's were taken in for Psy-Ops reprogramming, she had been included. However, instead of the normal retraining process, she was bombarded with a new barcode and identity. She went from being X5-766 to X5-391. No one knew the difference, and to keep it under wraps, she was kept from the rest of the X-series still on base. Lydecker knew the bond that had existed between herself and her brothers and sisters that had escaped, and he had also correctly surmised that her 'death' would have major impact on them as well.

Glancing at the file, the long repressed memories of reprogramming and training came back, flooding her enhanced senses with the images that she had fought so hard to forget. Trying unsuccessfully to control herself, she made it to her 'gym' before unleashing her anger upon the boxing bag hanging in the corner. Two hours later, and feeling slightly better, Mischa grabbed a towel from the cupboard and made her way back to the kitchen, to face the file and to make a decision which would change her future.

Since the news of Terminal City had reached Australia, Mischa had wrestled with the idea of staying in Australia and being Mischa Henderson or returning to the US and taking her place with her family. All her 'parents' knew about her was that she had no family.

They first met her at a church youth group thing which she had gone to with a friend - pretty much for the shelter and the food - but somehow, ended up going with the Henderson's, who eventually adopted her a year later. Although Christian's, they never once tried to force their beliefs onto her, for which, she was grateful. Even though Ben had regaled them with stories about the Blue Lady back in Manticore, Mischa couldn't help but feel that, in retrospect, it had been one big lie to give hope to those who had none.

Her parents were great people, and had been easy to live with. They had put her through the last two years of High School with their natural Daughter, Aleysha, with whom she had become best friends. She did extra curricular activities after school and during the holidays - mainly martial arts, which she saw as a way to keep her at the level that she was 'designed' to be at Manticore. To her instructors and family, it just looked like she was a natural at it. After Graduation, Aleysha had gone to University, but Mischa had decided that she was finished with School. So she'd gone out and found an apartment of her own and started working in a Café, where she still worked. Just like the rest of the X5's, she had her 'heat' problems, which she sometimes 'scratched' and sometimes waited it out, taking the time to exercise like crazy, after locking herself in her apartment. Her barcode was always covered up with makeup, and she kept her dyed blonde hair long to hide it just in case. Her seizure's were few and far between, and that was mainly due to the supply of tryptophan that she could get from health stores. For as much as $50, she could get enough tryptophan pills to keep her going for 3 months.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the file and sat down at the kitchen bench. Slowly reading through it, she made notes on the pad of paper next to her. The notes she would add to the file, so they would be able to understand the information they were looking at. When she finished, the file was twice as thick as it had been with the original information. As she had read it, the gravity of what she was had fully hit her, and now she realised why the people in Seattle were making such big noises about them not being human. Although their Human DNA was the dominant in their cocktail, there was so much more added to it, that they were really hybrids of the Feline/Human type. Thinking in those terms, she had written the notes in a way that her Human parents would understand.

Pulling a large envelope towards her, she wrote the address to which it was to be sent and quickly wrote a note to the people who would receive it.

_ATTN: Dr. Richard and Mrs. Sarah Henderson_

Finishing it, and sealing it shut, she held the thick package in her hands and closed her eyes. She didn't know how they would react and she knew that it was a cowardly way to tell them the truth. Although she had been designed to be a supersoldier, the one thing they didn't teach them back at good old Manticore, was how to deal with emotions. And it was something that Mischa still had trouble with.

* * *

Sitting in the car across the street, his feline eyesight enabled him to look in the window of the apartment he had been watching for the past two days. Logan had salvaged a lot of the Manticore Database that Lydecker had shown up with a few weeks ago, and according to both him and Lydecker, there was one too many X5's on the books. It would have gone unnoticed had Deck not been there with his 'wealth of information' about his 'kids', and Logan knew a lot more than the average Joe about the going's on of Manticore. 

_Far more than he should if you ask me_ He thought to himself as he continued to watch the girl in the apartment attack a boxing bag.

So far, everything he'd seen of this girl hadn't told him that she was a Manticore chick, but then again, his kind were designed to blend in with the Ordinaries. Logan had taken him aside one day and told him that both he and Lydecker thought that this extra X5 might not actually be an extra at all, but one from one of the original units. Recalling the information Logan had told him, he closed his hazel/green eyes and sighed.

_"Logan, buddy, what's up?"_

_"Remember that database that Lydecker brought to us?"_

_"The one that you rebuilt"_

_"You knew about the extra X5 that we found on the books right?"_

_"Yeah. Look Logan, I was there for the better part of my life, and I didn't know of someone extra. Apart from Max's little rugrat brothers and sisters who took off, I knew about all of the remaining X5's."_

_"Lydecker told me some information that could lead to the identity of the extra one."_

_"I wouldn't trust a word that he says Logan. Either would Max. You know that."_

_"True, but from what Lydecker says, I think it is."_

_He'd sighed in resignation, knowing he was going to hear it whether he wanted to or not. Taking a seat in one of the loungechairs in the living room, next to the TV he'd installed when he'd had to lay low with Josh, he'd put his hands behind his head and shrugged._

_"What did he say and why is it so important?"_

_"When Max's brothers and sisters escaped back in '09, they left their 2IC Eva, who had been shot by Lydecker."_

_"Yeah, We got told about that. It was always used as an example of what happens to good little X5's who don't play by the rules"_

_"Well, according to Lydecker, she didn't die."_

_"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that she died."_

_"It was kept on the down low. She was re-integrated, re-designated and re-programmed."_

_He sat up a little in his chair and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees._

_"So you're telling me that Max's sister, her 2IC is out there, alive and well."_

_"Yes."_

_"Are you gonna tell Max?"_

_Logan had paused and looked at the screen across from him. There was the file on Eva on it, along with the most recent picture they had of her._

_"I'm not sure. I don't want to tell her that she's alive and then find out that this girl we have a lead on isn't her."_

_"How old's the most recent picture?"_

_"Eva was at Manticore's Wyoming facility until the winter of 2014. They were transporting her to an undisclosed location, when she got away."_

_"And they didn't have any idea as to where she went?"_

_"No. According to this file, she was going into Spec. Ops training. They felt that the re-programming had taken well, and that she was able to go deep cover missions."_

_"Well, they cleared me for Deep Cover, and that was after I had 6 months of psy-ops thanks to my twin."_

_Getting up from his seat, he'd walked to the computer where Logan had been sitting and looked at the information._

_"Any leads as to where she is now?"_

_Logan had called up a new screen, one from the original notes left by Renfro. They had obviously been looking for her as well, but the destruction of their Washington facility had put deep holes into their progress._

_"Their last known location for Eva was in Australia."_

_"Australia? How did she get there?"_

_"Well, you've all been trained to blend in.."_

_"So naturally, she would have found a way to get there. Especially if they were taking her to Spec. Ops."_

_"Exactly."_

_"What do you want to do?"_

_"I want you to go to Australia and find her. If Manticore had this information, chances are that White's men probably have the same information. Although Australia wasn't hit by the Pulse, with their thermal scanners, they'll be able to find her fast."_

_"I'm on it. Should I approach her? Or just follow her to establish that none of White's guy's have her number?"_

_He'd automatically slipped into soldier mode, talking in military terms. This was a mission he was being sent on, and he needed to get the information right._

_"You should probably check out her background, her contacts. See if there's anything there that could be compromising for her. Then, if need be, touch base with her, and let her know what's up. With the broadcast of TC, she probably knows about what's going on over here."_

_"Fine. When do I leave?'_

_"Eye's Only contacts have made a passport and papers for you, and your ticket is for the 4am flight in the morning."_

_"What do I tell Max? I'm assuming you want to keep this quiet until we know more."_

_"I'll tell her that you had to go on a solo mission for Eye's Only. She'll get over it."_

He settled himself in the car to get some rest. He'd pretty much slept the entire flight from Seattle, and thanks to his designers, he didn't need that much sleep, but it wouldn't hurt to stay alert. He'd follow her to work again in the morning, and, depending on what happened, he might meet her then. He would wait and see what the morning held.

_

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	3. Day Off

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Two _**

**_Taya Guevera_**

Waking up from her normal 4 hours of sleep, Mischa decided to go for a leisurely ride around her area. It was something she liked to do now and then, part of her 'feel normal' routine. Although it was only 6am, the sun was already out, and she could tell that it would be yet another hot Western Australian summer day. The weatherperson on the news had said that it was expected to get to at least 43C today.

_Thank God we don't have a high humidity level_

She thought as she wheeled her bike out of the garage and put her helmet on. It wasn't like she needed the exercise but the occasional bike ride was nice and relaxing. Making sure she had her keys and cell phone on her, she jumped on her bike and started pedaling.

* * *

When she moved in with the Henderson's, she had been exposed to a life of wealth. 'Growing' up around the suburb of Hillarys had been something that she loved, even now. The soft sound of the crashing waves at nighttime, and the gentle cool breeze in the afternoon brought back memories of her spending all her summer afternoons at the beach – learning to surf, body surfing, getting tanned, ice fights. Just thinking of it made her smile. Sometimes her friends would organize make up football games on the beach which would last until late at night then afterwards, they'd head to Hillarys Boat Harbour for fish and chips – yet another thing that Mischa had learnt to love.

The differences of her life here in Australia compared to that of Manticore were vast and extreme. Her bedroom colors were bright and loud – a mixture of a maroon/burgundy/red color and soft yellow with Japanese styled furniture. Definitely different to the greyness and dormitory style of Manticore.

The winters in Western Australia weren't snowy like Wyoming, but the wind –the Roaring 20's – as they called them, always seemed to find that little gap in your clothing and get through to your skin. Although Manticore had designed them to handle any type of weather, Mischa found herself partial to warm weather.

_Probably because I've been here so long_

Looking both ways at the corner, Mischa rode across the road and down Summerlakes Parade heading towards Alexander Drive. The road itself went in a big circle, encircling the entire estate, which made out to be a good 'exercising' route. When Markus and later, Aleysha had gone to the East Coast for University, Mischa had decided to move out of home and be by herself. She knew that if her brothers and sisters who had escaped in '09 had all made it, that Zack, if he had taken on the job of 'looking after them all' would have told them to keep moving and make as little attachments as necessary.

_Sorry Big Brother, but I don't have the constant threat of Manticore here, so I'm making attachments like crazy._

She thought as she pedaled down the footpath. Through her sunglasses, she saw a rider coming towards her, which, thanks to her enhanced eye sight, she could make out to be her Canadian friend Josh. The closer he got, the bigger her smile got. Many people had said that the two of them should get together, but they had been close friends for the past 4 years and Mischa couldn't imagine ruining it.

"Hey Josh! Out early I see."

"Misch! You always know it's me."

"Can't help it. You ride weird so you stand out."

"Ha ha. So, out patrolling our neighborhood again?"

"You know it."

"And you think I'm strange?"

"A girl's gotta keep in shape."

Josh took the time to give her the once over and frowned.

"I don't know why you think you need to. You're always fine."

"Okay if I tell Carrie that tomorrow night at dinner?"

"She knows that you and I are best mates."

"I know, I'm just playing'."

"It's just after 6 in the morning, and you're wide awake. I'm sure that's illegal somewhere."

_Actually Josh, back at Manticore, this is late._

"Can I help it if I don't sleep much?"

"All that talent, and you still don't go clubbing."

Josh turned his bike around and rode alongside Mischa. They talked for most of the ride around the streets, but by the time they reached the street leading towards Marangaroo Drive, Josh slowed down.

"I'm out. It's nearly 7am and I've gotta get to work. Don't you have to as well?"

Mischa, still on her bike, rode around in circles on the quiet road.

"Can you say day off?"

"Smart ass."

"But you still love me."

"Don't know why." Josh smirked as he unclipped his helmet and turned into his driveway.

"Well Miss I've-Got-A-Day-off, same time tomorrow morning?"

"Call me tonight and I'll think about it."

"Okay. See ya."

"Bye."

Riding by herself, she headed back in the direction of the park, deciding to have a swing on the playground. The area had been modernized to match the times, but the park was very much still 'old school'. Jungle gym with swings, slide and some ride that made kids throw up from going round in circles. Putting her bike on the grass, she unclipped her helmet and sat on a swing. It overlooked the lake, which had some ducks swimming around without a care in the world.

It was times like these that made her feel normal. Nothing to worry about except what she was going to do with her day. Leaning back on the swing, she started to move back and forth, until she had created a steady motion. Closing her eyes, she imagined she was flying, just like her favorite bird, the Golden Eagle. Feeling the wind currents push her up, higher and higher until the earth was just a grain of sand behind her.

* * *

He had been awake for an hour when she left her house on her bike. Wanting to keep an eye on her, but not having a bike, he'd decided to 'borrow' one from a next door neighbor that he had noticed had obviously gone away for a few days late last night.

He'd followed her from a distance and had unregretfully listened in on their conversation. Maybe this was the 'guy' that he was sure he'd eventually find by following her. Until the mention of Carrie, and the subsequent departure of 'Josh' and the aforementioned Carrie 20 minutes after Mischa rode off. He'd had to hide behind a wall of mailboxes while she had ridden in circles before heading towards the park.

As he made his way there, he realized that he probably didn't have to hide that much, because, from the looks of things, she had fully adapted to not having Manticore breathing down her neck. Stopping on the footpath, he watched as she moved back and forth on the swing, seemingly without a care. Without thinking about it, he found himself riding his bike across the grass and towards the swings as well.

_Alec, what are you doing?_ His mind asked him as he left the bike on the grass not far from hers.

Sitting on the other swing, using his foot, he started to swing. He didn't know what he was going to say to her, but it sure wasn't going to be, "Hey 766. I'm 494. I know your sister."

* * *

Granted, her instincts probably weren't as finely honed as they should be, but they were still a hell of a lot better than an ordinary person's. She had felt someone near her as soon as Alec had started riding on the grass, and she felt her body tense up when the person ended up on the swing. Allowing herself a small smile, she thought to herself.

_Don't know who he is, or what he looks like, but he sure smells good._

Opening her eyes, she glanced to her left and saw him. Guessing that he was about 6', his dark blond hair and tanned skin were easy on the eyes. He must have felt her gaze because he turned to her and smiled. Looking into his green eyes, something told her to be careful with this guy, like he was used to charming people, especially women.

"Morning." Alec said, saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Morning." Mischa replied, trying to figure him out. It was a habit. Every new person she came across, she automatically sized them up to see what they were really like and what they wanted. Part of the soldier in her she supposed.

"Looks like it's gonna be hot today." _Gee Alec, could you be any more obvious?_

"They think it'll probably get to 43C. That's not so bad."

_It is if you're from Seattle, where it likes to rain 360 days of the year._

"You're a long way from home."

"Sorry?"

Mischa gave a small smile and repeated herself.

"You're a long way from home."

"Oh yeah. Mustn't come across too many Americans since the Pulse."

Mischa raised an eye brown and nodded.

"Well, they tell me that there aren't as many around as there used to be."

She had left herself wide open with that remark, but somehow, she felt that he would understand. It wasn't a feeling that she usually got, but then again, she was usually more conscious of what she said and to whom she said it to.

Alec nodded at her response, and left the unasked question alone. He didn't want to tell her who he was, and he didn't want to test the theory about Max's siblings having the same violent tendencies when it came to him. The last thing he wanted, or needed for that matter was a hit upside the head ala Max.

They swang a little more in silence, until Mischa asked another question.

"Here on holiday?"

"Actually, I'm tracking down some family of a friends back home."

"Where's home?"

_Was the base in Washington until Max and Logan decided enough was enough_

"I'm living in Seattle at the moment."

"Interesting stuff goin' on there."

"You don't know the half of it. Has it gotten much coverage here?"

"Sometimes, but only when there's violence. Although, if you ask me, the media's a tad bit biased against the transgenics."

"You get that too huh?"

"Yeah."

Mischa got off her swing and walked over to her bike. She bent down to grab her helmet and put it on.

"Sorry to jet on you, but I've gotta get going."

"Not a problem, I've gotta go too. Things to do, people to see."

They laughed, although Alec felt it was more of a nervous laugh from both of them. He had no idea what to say to her. If and when Max found out that Eva was alive, she wouldn't believe it and she'd have heaps of questions. Hell, Alec had heaps of questions. Eva had always been used as an example to the remaining X5's on what lengths Manticore would go to to prevent a similar occurrence from happening.

In many ways, she was a lot like Max, in that she seemed to have left everything Manticore behind, trying hard to forget that part of herself. But at the same time, when he'd been walking towards the swings, he'd known that she knew he was there. They stood there until Mischa smiled again and picked her bike up.

"Nice talking to you. Have a good day."

"Yeah, you too."

That was all he could say as she rode back onto the footpath and to her house. He didn't have to follow her, he knew where she lived, but he wanted to take a bit of a look around. Last night, just after 3am, he'd woken up to the sound of a car driving slowly past. He'd been worried that it had been the police and that someone had reported his car being there, but when he looked, it had been a dark SUV. Very secretive and Alec had immediately thought of White. If that was the case, they knew where Eva was, which wasn't good news.

Picking the bike up from where he left it, he took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and called Logan. He needed some Intel.

* * *

Mischa had ridden just out of sight of the park, when she got off her bike and crept back to where she could see. The guy she had talked to had picked his bike up and had just called someone on his cell phone. Maybe she was just paranoid because of the news of Terminal City, but she was wondering whether there was something different about this guy – good or bad, she wasn't sure yet.

She could only catch parts of the conversation, which didn't really tell her much. For all she knew, he remembered that he needed to make a phone call just after she left. Quickly running to a wall two houses closer, she tried to listen to more.

"Black SUV last night. They might know. Check it out. Annoying as hell."

They didn't really make a sentence, and, unless she knew what the person on the other end was saying, it didn't make a lot of sense either. Running back to her bike, she made her way home having decided what to do on her first day off in a month.

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	4. Made in Manticore TM

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Three_**

**_Taya Guevera_**

****

Getting her uniform together, she put the package to her parents in her backpack, along with her apron, lunch and drink bottle. Grabbing her helmet, she grabbed her keys from beside the telephone and went out the front door to her bike. Checking her watch, she had half an hour to get to work, which left her enough time to drop the package at her parents before she went to work.

Pulling her helmet on, she adjusted her backpack and turned her bike on. Her mind in another place, she didn't notice the car parked across the road that had been there for two days. Neither did she notice as it pulled away from the curb to follow her. But the driver of that car did notice a black SUV that turned the corner at the same time he pulled away from the curb and followed in the direction that Mischa had taken off in.

* * *

"There she is. Follow her, but make sure you stay back a bit. We don't want to get made."

"Sir, why are we tailing this girl?"

"Because. According to the files we retrieved from Manticore's database, she's an X5. One of 452's sisters."

"Can we be sure? From what we've found, she's been in Australia for 8 years now."

"Which is exactly why we need to keep following her. To find out whether she is the girl we think she is."

"But Sir—"

"Are you questioning me? You're here to help me track down a rogue X5 that escaped from Manticore in '14. Keep this up and I can make sure that the only duty you see is sewer duty back in Seattle. Understood?"

"Yes Sir."

White sat back in the back seat of the SUV and brought the file from his briefcase onto his lap. Flicking through it, he re-read the information about the X5 they were looking for. Her DNA workup wasn't as spectacular as that of 452, but there were some questions that needed answering, and the Conclave wanted those answers. After the debacle at Jam Pony those months ago, he was still trying to prove his worth to the Conclave along with those of the Phalanx. An Ordinary and some transgenic scum beat the ones who were supposed to be the best of his people. They had humiliated him and all that he stood for, and it would be a cold day in Hell before he let them get away with it.

* * *

Alec kept an eye on the blue motorcycle in front of him, even though the early morning traffic made it hard to stay behind her. He was keeping an eye on the rider as well as keeping an eye on his rearview mirror and the black SUV that was now 5 cars back. That SUV could only mean one thing. White _was_ in town – transgenic hunting.

_Great. Terrific.Freakin' fantastic. I guess that changes the mission parameters._

Grabbing his cell phone from the seat beside him, he flipped it open and hit the speed dial button. Logan.

"Logan, buddy."

"Alec?"

_What the hell is she doing at his place?_

"Max. Hey."

"Logan said that you're doin' an Eyes Only thing for him"

"Yeah. You know me, Always willing to help out for the cause."

"Right."

"Look Max, I would love to continue this, but is Logan around?'

"Yeah. I'll get him."

A few moments passed, and Alex had to stop the car at a red light. She still hadn't noticed that she was being followed, but Alec noticed that the Black SUV was ever further behind than they had been earlier.

"Alec."

"Logan. My guess yesterday was right.."

"White?"

"Yeah. Anything concrete yet?"

"Got some radio traffic about a day ago through TC about White's men finding some new info and heading to Australia."

"Do we know what that info was?"

"Not exactly, but you can bet that if White's personally taken an interest in it, it's something we want to know about.."

"Trying to make good with his Familiar freaks."

"Something like that."

"Okay. Then, I'll move if I need to."

"How's everything going?"

"I'm following the girl. So far, there's no sign as to whether she's Manticore or not. I'm going to her work today, kinda touchin' base with her without telling her who I am. Hopefully White's men won't be able to follow her that far."

"What do you mean?"

"They were at her house. They know where she lives, but they obviously don't know where she works because they're following her now."

"How far away are they?"

"I'm about 2 cars behind her, and they're a further 10 cars behind me now. I don't think I've been made by them otherwise they'd be after me too."

"I think The Conclave would be very happy to grab two X5's about now."

"Don't need to tell me that. Especially with what happened at Jam Pony with those muscleheads of theirs."

"Yeah. Well, if it gets hot, get out of there."

"Gee Logan, after all this time, you actually care."

Closing the phone with his shoulder, he signaled to change lanes and followed the motorbike to a turnoff.

_She must be going to her parents house._

Luckily, after Alec followed the motorbike, a semi-trailer had gone past them, so with any luck, White and his merry men wouldn't have seen where they turned off.

* * *

Pulling up to the curb, Mischa put the bike on its stand but kept the engine going. She didn't want to stay long so she quietly ran down the long driveway and jumped over the gate. Landing softly, she quickly looked around, making sure no one was around before making her way to the door. Kneeling, she brought her backpack across her side and opened it, taking out the package and left it on the mat in front of the door.

Her hearing working hard, but not hearing anything, she quickly zipped her bag up and moved it to her back again. Looking around again, just to make sure her mom hadn't decided to do some early morning gardening, she ran effortlessly back up the driveway and over the gate. Getting to her bike, she put her helmet on again and, without gunning her engine, she took it off the stand and made her way to work.

* * *

"Sir, we lost her."

"What do you mean you lost her?"

"She must have switched lanes and gone down a side street. A Semi trailer blocked our view for 5 minutes so we didn't see."

"Shit. Head back to base. Make sure that we're back at her home by 6pm. "

"Yes Sir."

* * *

Watching her get over the fence and down the driveway, Alec raised an eyebrow.

"There's the 'Made in Manticore' trademark right there."

You couldn't miss the feline grace with which she quickly got over the gate. A few minutes later, Alec saw her come back over the gate and get on her bike to leave. Not taking the time to follow her, because he already knew where she worked, he waited until he was sure she was gone before getting out of the car and following in her footsteps. Making his way over the gate and down the driveway, he saw that she had left a package on the doorstep. Using his enhanced eyesight, he looked at the words on the front if it.

ATTN: Dr. Richard and Mrs. Sarah Henderson.

_She leaves a package at their doorstep after sneaking into her own house, technically, and formally addresses it to them. Can't be good._

Looking around quickly, seeing and hearing no one, he picked the package up and gently opened it. Keeping an ear out for any noises, he opened it and raised an eyebrow when he saw what was inside. A Manticore file with a bunch of notes.

_Guess the mystery is all gone now. Not only is she Manticore, but she's about to tell her parents who she really is. Not the best idea in the world there. Especially if your 'dad' is a Doctor. What are you thinking?_

Not sure whether to leave the package or not, he crept around the side of the house to the garage, keeping it with him while he made a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Logan. I need you to run a check for me."

"Yep."

"Dr. Richard Henderson. What's his deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Eva's just left a package here at her parents house that has her full Manticore file as well as handwritten notes explaining everything to them. Her dad's a Doctor."

"Just a second."

Waiting patiently had never been a strong suit of Alec's so he used the time to look more at the file in his hands. According to the file, she was no longer X5-766 but X5-391.

_Which would explain why I've never heard of her. She was never placed back into regular circulation with the X series._

About to read into the last entered information in the file, Logan's voice came back.

"Dr. Richard Stephan Henderson. 49 years old. Husband to Sarah, a teacher, and father of Aleysha, a Marketing Exec and Markus, a Biologist. Specialty is Pediatrics."

"So he's a Children's doctor."

"Yeah. He did some work in Genetic Engineering back in University, but back then it was such an out there subject that it wasn't relevant to anything."

"I've taken the file with me, but she obviously wants them to know about her. Do you think it's safe to leave it?"

"Since White was following her, they mustn't know where her family lives. So it's probably okay. If she wants them to know, that's her decision, She's obviously worried about their reaction because she's not telling them herself."

"Well, how can you tell your family, "hey, remember how I said I don't have any family? Well, I lied. I'm actually a part of a secret government agency that genetically engineered me to be a supersoldier.'"

"That's a good point. I say leave it. If White doesn't know where she went, it should be fine."

"Okay then. I'll put it back. But, can you tap into their phone lines and that to keep an eye on their movements, Cos once they get this information, who knows how they're gonna react."

"Not a problem."

"There's some interesting information in here Logan."

"Like what?"

"Her last Psy-Ops visit talked about successfully removing any and all traces of her 'previous' life."

"Previous?"

"She was re-designated as 391."

"Interesting. I'm sure there's a lot of information that would be extremely useful to us back here. If you can, make a copy of it and bring it back with you."

"Sure, no problem. I'll be in touch."

Putting the package back where he found it, he quietly left the Henderson's and headed towards Eva's workplace.

* * *

Mischa didn't know whether it was because of the news coverage on Terminal City in Seattle or just her nerves that caused her to keep watching the door and keeping a close eye on all the people that walked in or into their café.

"Misch? Hello? Earth to Mischa…"

"What?" Mischa said suddenly turning and finding her friend Fiona standing there next to her holding a docket.

""I've been telling you the order for the Law Firm in St. George's Terrace for 5 minutes, and you haven't heard a word of what I've said have you?"

"You mean the 3 Cappuccinos, 2 Lattes, 1 Long Macchiato - traditional and 2 Long Blacks, all large, all to take away?"

"Yeah." Fiona looked surprised that she had heard the order.

"Multitasking. It's a bitch." She said smiling at her and turned her attention to the coffee machine in front of her. Her hands went on automatic pilot and went to making the coffee's while her mind kept floating back to the package she had left at her parents house earlier that day.

_I wonder what they'll think of it. I mean, Dad's got some small background in Genetic Engineering, but this is way above and beyond that. Will they be scared of me? Will they talk to me? Will they treat me like a thing instead of a person?_

As she continued thinking about the possibilities, her eyes and ears still kept an eye on the going's on around her, while her hands kept making the order. 6 minutes later, the order, together with the lunch order of sandwiches, salads and hot food was ready to go. Wanting some fresh air, Mischa volunteered to take it.

"Think of it as my small apology for not paying attention."

Fiona had laughed at that and waved her away.

On her way back to work, she noticed a tall, good looking guy walking casually towards the café. He seemed pretty confident, which was evident in the way he carried himself. He disappeared into the café just as she crossed the road. Picking some dirty dishes up from some tables near the doorway, she went inside and quickly glanced around for the guy who had walked in earlier. Not seeing him straight away, she shrugged and took the dishes to the kitchen out the back.

Just as she reached the door she felt like she was being watched, so she turned her head and there he was. Standing at a bookshelf on the far wall of the café. It was the same guy from that park yesterday morning. Taking him in with her eyes, she paused for a moment then went into the kitchen. Fiona was standing there, in front of the mirror fixing her make up.

"Saw the cute guy did you?" Mischa commented with a smile as she placed the dishes in the dishwashing tray.

"Ohmigod. Have you ever seen such a hottie? Remember, you're on the coffee machine and I'm on service."

Laughing, Mischa shook her head and grabbed her apron off the hook near the door. Glancing out the door, the guy in question was standing at the counter.

"Well, Miss Customer Service, your man awaits."

Fiona rushed out the door and within seconds, Mischa could hear her talking to the guy. Still smiling, she put her apron on, and, quickly checked to make sure she looked okay before taking her place behind the coffee machine again. Walking past the counter, Mischa could hear that the guy was pouring on the charm, and, from the looks of Fiona, it seemed to be working. From her vantage point, Mischa could see he had hazel/green eyes, that, even she had to admit, were gorgeous. As she walked past, she could feel him watch her, but his attention was still on Fiona.

_He's one of those guys_ she thought as she went about making some more coffees.

* * *

**_Two updates at once, I know.. :D _**

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	5. End of the Fairytale

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Three_**

**_Taya Guevera_**

****

* * *

Alec smiled at the girl who's nametag read Fiona and nodded at something she was saying. He'd admit that flirting wasn't something that he found difficult, hell, it was a natural talent, but it wasn't difficult to pay attention to the girl walking behind Fiona at the same time either. Manticore had created the X5's to be attractive, but sometimes you just had to give them extra credit. Max for example. She was one of the best looking Manticorian females he'd seen in a while, and from the looks of it, Eva was on the same page as her.

"So, you're American?"

He heard Fiona ask him.

"Ah yeah."

"Cool. Whereabouts are you from?"

"Washington mostly."

"Just visiting Australia?"

"Yeah. Looking up some relations and that."

Fiona nodded and looked away. Alec thought that had this been in Seattle, he wouldn't have minded grabbing her number. Someone to keep him company on a lonely night, but he was there with a job to do. He took the table number she offered him with a flirtatious smile and a wink before glancing at the girl behind the coffee machine and walking to a table near the door. Keeping an eye on the door, he mentally went over the information that Logan had given him before he left Seattle. The last picture they had of her didn't look anything like the way she did now and, as it turned out, most of that information had been useless. It was only due to Logan's Eyes Only contacts that he'd gained some leads.

Eva seemed to be extremely settled in her life here. Family, friends, a stable job. She was a lot taller than he'd expected, but then again, he'd kind of pictured someone Max's height. From a rough guess, he would say that she was 5'10". She had an athletic/slim build, blonde hair and dark green eyes. The blonde hair looked natural enough, but from the file, it was stated that her natural hair color was more of a red color.

_Although, with her skin color, the blonde seems to work quite nicely._ Alec thought to himself before his phone rang.

* * *

Watching him over the top of the coffee machine, she watched as he answered his cell phone, but still kept an eye on the door. Sure, he was good to look at, had a nice voice, great eyes and an easy smile, but there was something about him that made her stay alert. Then again, it could just be her nerves talking. She was so worried about what her parents would say. She wondered whether they would ring her and leave a message or whether they'd come in to her work and make a scene.

Finishing the order, she grabbed a saucer to put the latte glass on to as well as a teaspoon along the side before spiking the order and taking it out to the table. Her hearing picked up a little bit of the conversation, but not enough to know what they were talking about. The closer she got, the quieter he spoke before ending the conversation and smiling at her.

"Here's your latte Sir."

"Call me Alec."

Raising an eyebrow and smiling slightly, she said,

"Okay, Alec, here's your latte."

"Thanks," he said looking at her name badge, "Mischa."

"Welcome"

As she turned to walk away, she heard him quietly ask, "What time do you finish?"

Turning around again, she said, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Smiling again, Alec put two sugars into his latte and stirred it.

"I was wondering what time you finished here today."

"I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I finish in 2 hours."

Shaking her head, she allowed herself a small smile as she went back into the kitchen. Even though she was made to be attractive, it was still nice to know that people thought so.

The next hour went fast, their lunch rush running into the afternoon one but Alec stayed at his table near the door. The earlier phone call had been from Logan. He'd just gotten word that White had figured out the area where Eva was working so he was staying to make sure that the next hour was uneventful. For both of them.

From behind the coffee machine, Mischa watched as Alec kept looking at his watch before turning and smiling at her. Smiling back, and slightly embarrassed and being caught, she paid more attention to her job. 30 minutes before she was rostered to finish, she heard Alec quietly clear his throat. She looked up from her cleaning and saw two men, dressed in suits, walk through the door. Ordinarily, they wouldn't have been out of place. But they were wearing grey trenchcoats over the top. Maybe it was her military mind that picked it up, but she knew right away that something was wrong.

Slowly moving from behind the coffee machine to the food cabinet, Mischa kept cleaning, although now her attention was on the two gentlemen slowly walking towards the back of the store. Because the shelves were about 1.5 meters tall, she could clearly see both of them standing there. Using her enhanced hearing, she heard them talking, but obviously, not to each other. Swallowing, she glanced at Alec, who'd stood up and was looking at her with what looked like concern in his eyes. Why was he looking at her like that.

"You need to leave. Now." He said quietly. A normal person wouldn't have been able to hear it, but her hearing, care of Manticore, made it so she could. She nodded and walked into the kitchen.

"Fiona!"

"Yeah?" her workmate and friend called out from the freezer.

"I know I'm not supposed to finish for another 30 minutes, but something's come up and I need to jet. Is that cool?"

"Sure. You've always got my back when I need to leave early, so this time I got yours. On tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Open."

"See you at 11am then."

"Bye."

Putting her apron on the hook near the door, she grabbed her backpack and helmet and used the back door to leave the store. Getting her keys out of her bag, she slung it around her back while she zipped up her jacket. Looking across the road, she saw her bike sitting there. It was only a few steps away, but the guys in the store would see and hear her leave. Leaning up against the wall, she looked around for another way to get away from the store. She didn't know who these people were, but she wasn't exactly going to roll out the welcome wagon for them.

Alec had gone to the counter and got Fiona's number, keeping up the appearance of being another normal guy, doing a normal guy thing before slowly leaving the café. He assumed that Eva had taken the back door, and was probably waiting around the corner, trying to figure out a way to get to her bike before the guys in the store figured out that she wasn't there. Guessing asto which wall she was behind, he turned right about 20 meters down from the café.

"That's your bike over there right?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Don't worry about that. Give me the keys. I'll get it. Is there another way out of this alley?"

"Yeah, about 3 blocks that way."

"Go there, and I'll bring the bike to you."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because the guys in your store aren't the good guys. Get going."

Wondering who the hell he was to be telling her to do this, she quickly ran to the end of the alley way and waited for Alec to bring her bike to her. Standing there, but continuously glancing around, looking for both Alec and the guys from her store, she talked to herself.

'Well, Mischa, this is good. You're supposed to stay alert all the time. You never know who knows where you are. Just because you're in Australia doesn't mean you can let your guard down.'

Hearing the unmistakable sound of her bike's engine, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Alec turn the corner and join her in the alleyway.

"Get on. We don't have much time."

"What's going on? Who are they and who are you?"

"Just get on the damn bike, and I'll explain it to you at your place. Because they know where you work now, they probably aren't watching the house as closely. You'll have enough time to grab what you absolutely need before I take you out of here. Understood?"

She wordlessly got on the bike behind him and wrapped her arms around his body. The ease in which he rode her bike made her think that he either had one of his own, or at least he'd ridden a lot before. Alec ignored the feeling of her arms around him as he eased the bike back onto the road and towards Eva's house. They didn't have much time.

* * *

Pulling the bike into the driveway, Alec quickly turned the bike off and got off, Mischa not far behind. Following her to the door, he watched the road for any signs that White and his men were around. Not seeing anyone, he followed her into the house.

It was nicely set out, showing that she was doing well for herself. Along the walls were photos of friends and family, and a few pictures of her and a guy, obviously her boyfriend. While he left her to throw some things together, he looked at the all, taking in the happy look on everyone's faces. It would have been nice to have a life like this one.

Hearing her coming out of, what he assumed, was her bedroom, he turned to face her, holding a picture of her and a guy in his hand.

"Boyfriend?"

Glancing at him, she put the bag on the table and muttered, "Ex."

Nodding in understanding, he placed the picture back on the wall and turned around again. Mischa went to the phone and checked her answering machine. There were no messages.

"Expecting a phone call?"

"Not like it's any of your business, but yes."

"Maybe from the parents? Wondering about that package you left for them?"

Forgetting that she didn't know much about this guy, she quickly moved towards him and threw him against the wall, her arm across his throat.

"Now, who the hell are you? Who are they? What does this have to do with me?"

Alec had to smirk at her moves. She was definitely X5. She blurred like the rest of them, and had the extra strength as well.

"Well, someone I know, whom I'm sure you know as well, told us that you didn't die in '09. So I came to check it out."

"This person have a name?"

"Donald Lydecker."

A stunned look came over her face, and her arm slackened, allowing Alec the moment he needed to push her away and get across the room.

"You're Manticore aren't you?"

"Right. At your service."

"Look, you can stow the smart ass comments. And you can go back to Manticore and tell them that I'm not coming back."

"Woah, I'm not with Manticore anymore. Didn't you hear? They're gone."

"Right, so Terminal City isn't their new base of operations?"

"Trust me, it ain't Manticore. You live better at Manticore."

"Right. So, you obviously know who I am."

"You're originally X5-766, but you were re-designated after '09 as X5-391. "

"Yeah, some crap about using me as an example to others."

"I'm 494. Or Alec, as I go by now."

"494. I knew someone who was 493."

"Ben. My twin. I know, I hear it all the time"

Walking to another bedroom, Mischa opened a cupboard and took out a couple of pistols as well as a knife.

"Well, Alec. Now you've found me. Mind explaining who the guys at my work were?"

"In Seattle, there's a group of people called The Conclave. They're all about selective breeding to enhance the human species blah, blah, blah… Anyway, one of their guys, Ames White, is an agent with the NSA. He's decided that it's his Calling to hunt down every Transgenic in the world and take them out. Even though your file was hidden deep within the database at Manticore, they've managed to do what we did. And that's figure out that someone got away."

"How did they know where I worked?"

"I've been following you for the last 2 days. This morning, they were following you too. I'm assuming that they got their information from somewhere cos we lost them before you got to work."

"That's why you know about the file."

"I was there when you left it. I also checked it over to make sure you were who we thought you were."

"What did you do with it?"

"I checked with my contacts, and we decided to leave it there for your parents. If that's what you wanted to do, hell, it's your decision."

"Good. I feel so bad that I've had to lie to them for this long."

"But you're worried about how they'll react to the news."

"Yes. You can't understand what it's been like to have this life. To have the friends and family I've had. We never knew that this sort of life was possible when we were at Manticore."

Picking up her bag, he put it over his shoulder. Gesturing for her to hurry up he said, "You may have to consider that they're the source that gave those guys the info on where you worked."

Mischa strapped the knife to her belt and put the gun in her backpack.

"I refuse to believe that. "

Looking at the time, Alec knew that if they stayed any longer, they risked detection by White.

"We've gotta get moving now. Now they know you're here, you're not safe. You'll have to come with me."

"To?"

"Back to Seattle."

* * *

**_Thanks for the reviews so far!_**

**_Please continue to read and review:D_**


	6. Moving On Again

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Five_**

_**Taya Guevera**_

* * *

Alec watched as Mischa stopped dead in her tracks and turned to glare at him.

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

Glancing at his watch, Alec became all business and blurred to her side, grabbing her arm. Pulling her towards the door and her motorbike, he said,

"Trust me. These aren't people you want to mess with. We can hide you in TC and you'll be protected with the rest of us. If we don't leave now, they'll get two X5's instead of one."

Mischa struggled against the grip on her arm and finally got her arm free. With a glare at Alec's determined face, she turned on her heel and slowly walked back into the living room. Alec rolled his eyes and shook his head.

_Why do I always get the difficult ones? Stubborn, pig headed and obstinate must be common denominators with the 09ers._

Leaning against the wall near the door, he folded his arms across his chest and propped a foot up on the wall.

"Eva, I wasn't playin' around when I said we need to leave."

Nothing. Not a single response. Sighing again and glancing at the door with longing, he walked back into the living room and found Mischa looking at the photos on the mantelpiece and found that his non existent patience had gone.

"For the love of, we don't have time for this. "

Glaring at him again, she reached for the last picture, one of her and her 'family' and placed it in her backpack. Turning and slowly looking at the rest of the room, she walked past Alec and muttered,

"Fine. We're gone."

"Finally."

Following her out of the house, he watched in annoyance as she took the time to lock the door and check the mail. Like it mattered, she wouldn't be able to come back here again. Adjusting her backpack on his back, he sat on the bike and waited for her to get on so they could leave.

"I don't think so buddy."

"You don't think so what?"

"It's my bike, my town. I know where I'm going so I'm driving."

"Why is it always an issue with you. Geez, you'd think that someone was about to break your favorite toy."

"If you're gonna get all pissed about it, you can drive when we get to Seattle."

"We don't have time for this Eva."

"Get your ass of the damn bike pretty boy, before I remove it for you. You're riding on the back."

Shifting his position, she zipped up her jacket and got on the front of the bike. She didn't really know how everything had escalated so quickly, but now that it had, she could feel the anger of her past coming back to her. It wasn't that she had anything against Alec, he seemed to be alright, but he represented everything that she didn't want to remember, and that brought back painful memories. Ones that told her that her family probably didn't make it that night. She didn't like lashing out at Alec, it wasn't in her nature. But seeing him and knowing that he was an X5 like herself made her miss those that she called her family. Zack, Brin, Jondy, Krit, Ben, Syl, Zane, Tinga and especially Max.

Taking care not to gun the engine, she slowly maneouvered the motorbike out of the driveway and onto the street.

"Seeing as you've mentioned that they probably know where I live, I won't put the lights on until we're on our way."

"Wow, you are intelligent."

"And don't call me Eva."

Swallowing down the desire to strangle him, or beat him to within an inch of his life, she took a deep breath and took off down the road.

* * *

About ten minutes after Mischa and Alec had left her place, the black SUV was back followed by a black Mercedes. Parking in the same spot that Alec had been sitting in for the last few days, they started to monitor the house.

"Any signs that she's here?"

"Well Sir, the lights have been on since we arrived. Your contact told us that she's usually home at this time. We found out from the girl at the coffee shop that she finished work about the same time that we arrived."

"Did she know you were there?"

"According to the girl Sir, she was rostered to finish at that time."

"Did you see anything that seemed out of the ordinary?"

"No Sir."

"Was anyone else in the shop when you went in?"

"Just some guy who was chatting up the girl that we talked to."

"Okay. We'll assume that she's here then. I want full surveillance for the rest of the night. If someone comes or goes, I want to know about them. Understood?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good."

White got out of the SUV and back in the Mercedes. This could be the break that he was looking for. He would have to ask the Conclave what they wanted him to do with his 'informant'. She could prove to come in handy for the future with regards to 766.

* * *

Half an hour later, Mischa pulled into a driveway of an expensive looking house in a posh area of the City. Turning the bike off, she threw her leg over the front of the bike and stood up. Unzipping her jacket and shaking her hair out, she looked at Alec who looked lost.

"Where are we?"

"If these people are as resourceful as you say, then they can probably trace my credit cards, so that doesn't exactly leave a whole lot of options for places to crash tonight does it?"

"I guess not. But that doesn't answer my question."

He said as he got off the bike and ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up a little. Mischa tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. He looked gorgeous with the lost look on his face, and with his hair standing up like it was, she bit her bottom lip.

"Maybe it's not such a good idea to bring you here. Maybe we should just risk it."

"Now what are you talking about? And why are you looking at me like that?"

"I don't have time to explain it, but just pretend that you're with me. That we're about to go on a lovers holiday and that you can't stand to be apart from me."

"What?"

Before she could say anything, the front door opened and an attractive, tall, blond haired, blue eyed guy walked out with a big smile on his face.

"Mischa, Mischa, Mischa!"

"Hey Andreas."

She found herself in a bear hug and grinned. It was as if nothing had changed.

"And who's this?"

Getting out of the hug, Mischa walked over to Alec and put her arm around his waist. Kissing him lightly on the lips, she snuggled into his side and smiled at Andreas.

"This is my hot boy Alec. Alec, this is one of my best friends, Andreas."

Alec didn't know what to think, so, being the way he was, he threw on the charm and acted like it was all true. Putting his arm down her back and resting his hand on her ass, he lightly squeezed and nodded at Andreas.

"Hey. Nice to meet you."

"You too. Known Mischa long?"

With Mischa still close to him, he pulled her closer and touched his lips to hers for a moment.

"Only a few days, but you know how it is. Love at first sight and all that. Couldn't stay away."

Andreas laughed and motioned for them to follow them into the house.

"She seems to have that effect on the male population. Hey Misch, you can put your bike in my garage later if you want."

"Thanks Drea, that would be great."

Walking behind Andreas into the house, Mischa elbowed Alec in the ribs.

"Ouch" he said, only loud enough for her to hear. "What was that for?"

"You know perfectly well what that was for. Cut it out."

"I'm just playing along. Besides, you started it."

Before she could say anything else, they entered the kitchen, which reminded both Alec and Mischa that they hadn't eaten for a while. Andreas looked to be cooking up a storm.

"What's the big occasion Drea? Got a hot date that we're crashing?"

"No, not tonight. It seems that every time I get the urge to make something special for dinner, you decide to show up. I've just gotten used to my hunches."

"So, what culinary masterpiece are we having tonight?"

"This is Balinese Chili Squid. I added some extra chili, cos I know how much you like it hot." The double entendre made Alec feel uncomfortable, which was unsual for him. He could usually adapt as needed, but there was obviously something between Mischa and Andreas that he didn't know about.

"I'm assuming that you'll be staying for a day or two like usual right?"

Mischa looked at Alec who shrugged in return. He needed to get in touch with Logan and let him know that she would be returning with him to Seattle, but he wasn't sure how long it would take for Logan to fix everything up.

"If that's okay with you." Alec said, once again taking his place beside Mischa. There was something predatory about Andreas that he couldn't quite out his finger on, so he thought that he'd better act the part of devoted boyfriend so that he didn't accidentally catch anything going on between Andreas and Mischa.

"Not a problem. Mischa knows where the bedrooms are, she can show you. Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes."

"Thanks Drea."

"No problems honey."

Mischa walked towards the staircase near the front door, with Alec in tow and made her way to the second floor. Alec, unable to help himself, caught himself doing his usual cat burglar trick of casing the place. This place just screamed money. If it was in Seattle, he would rip it off without a second thought, but here in Australia, he doubted that it would be that easy to fence stuff.

"Nice place."

"It is. It's so…. Andreas."

_Of course._

Mischa walked to a partially open door not far from the stairs and pushed it open. Inside was a queen sized bed, with expensive looking side tables and dresser and the room had an ensuite. Taking her bag from Alec, Mischa put it on the bed and started taking some things out.

"Is this your room?"

"You could probably call it that." Mischa said as she walked into the bathroom, placing her toothbrush, toothpaste and hair brush on the sink.

"So, you stay here a lot?" Alec had walked over to the window and glanced out of it, taking care not to move the curtain too much in case someone was watching.

"It's a long story, but sometimes I stay a lot, sometimes I just crash, other times I just sleep over."

_Yeah, I'm getting the ex boyfriend vibes here. Although, he's not the one from that photo back at her place, so maybe it's an ex, ex, boyfriend._

"This is where we're gonna sleep tonight. How long will it take for you to get your contacts to get us out?"

Alec walked over to the bed and laid down on the left hand side, closest to the door. Sighing, his muscles rejoiced at the softness of the bed, It sure beat the car that he'd been sleeping in for the past 2 days.

"I'll call them after dinner. I think it will probably take a couple of days, unless Logan's gotten some more information about White and his friends."

"Who's Logan?"

"My contact. He's the one who figured out that you were here."

"Right." She wanted to ask more, especially to ask him about her brothers and sisters. Whether he knew if they'd made it or not, but time was a wastin' and the heavenly smell of dinner was calling them back downstairs.

"It's a long story. I'll tell it to you later. What about you and Andreas?"

"Long story. We can swap stories later, but right now, that food is calling for me."

Walking towards the door, Mischa paused and turned to look at Alec.

"Are you coming?"

Grinning, he got off the bed and caught up with her at the door. Taking her hand in his, he smirked at her and raised his eyebrows.

"Gotta stay in character. I'm sure your friend down there thinks we were making out up here."

Mischa laughed lightly. He probably did, especially thanks to his 'playing the game' down on the driveway.

_Wait until I tell him about Andreas._

* * *

"Anything yet?"

"No Sir. The lights are still on, and there's the flickering of the television, but apart from that, there's no sign that anyone's in there."

"Has anyone come or gone?"

"No Sir. The phone has rung a couple of times, and it has been answered, so she is still there."

"Fine. I'll call for another status check in 4 hours."

* * *

Dinner had been delicious. Andreas' profession of being a chef was something that Mischa had always taken from granted. Ever since she had met him, he always spoilt her for dinner. He was such a great friend, but it hadn't always been like that. Sipping her wine, she glanced around the table. Andreas was talking to Alec, who had his hand on her leg. They seemed to be getting a long well, but she could tell that Alec felt that he needed to protect her from something although she wasn't sure what.

They had been talking about America, and the Pulse, which Alec, although he had told her that he was still at Manticore until a year ago, knew a lot about. Andreas was heavily into the world news, so they had been talking about different events for the last half hour.

"Don't you think Misch?"

"What?"

Alec smiled and glanced at Andreas. He knew she hadn't been paying attention and she did look a little tired. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he shrugged at Andreas.

"I think this one's about ready to crash."

Mischa nodded, still trying to figure out what the question was when Alec stood up and waited. Biting her bottom lip, she smiled at Andreas who looked like the cat who got the cream.

"Thanks for dinner Drea. It was one of your best."

"Not a problem. Alec's right, you do look quite tired. Go on up, have a good rest and maybe I'll see you before I go to work in the morning."

"Thanks again Drea."

"Yeah, thanks man. That meal was one of the best I've had in a while."

Alec's comment made Andreas smile widely as they turned and walked back upstairs to their bedroom. Packing up the dishes, he wished he was in Mischa's position. That boy had to be one of the finest specimens of the male species that he had ever seen. Too bad he was straight.

* * *

Closing the door, Alec looked over at Mischa who had started taking her shirt off on the way to the bed. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to seeing women do that around him, but there was something different about Mischa. Turning around, he walked over to the window and looked out again. They hadn't turned the lights on, but their feline DNA made it easy to see.

"So, what was the question that you guys asked me?"

"Oh, Andreas was talking about the transgenic threat in the US and the implications."

"Hmm, sorry I missed it."

"He doesn't seem to know much, so I played dumb."

Mischa laughed lightly.

"Sure you played?"

Turning around with a grin, he was about to give a smart ass comment, when he noticed that she was just standing there in her underwear and a tight tank top that didn't leave much to the imagination. Turning around again, he took a deep breath.

"Well, you know how it is. I can't let on that I have this amazing intellect to normal people. They'll be jealous, not like they aren't already."

"Please."

He heard the rustling of the bedsheets as she got in so he turned around. Yeah, it wasn't as if he had a problem with being around women when they were in different stages of undress, but sometimes, it amazed him that he could be so modest. For all the comments to Max about her getting naked, he knew that if he was in the room when she did, he would be acting the same as he was now with Mischa.

He was going to ask about Andreas again when he noticed that her breathing had settled into a slow, rhythmic pattern, indicating that she was already fast asleep.

_Guess it will have to wait. May as well ring Logan._

Taking his cell phone out of the pocket of his jacket, which he had left over the back of a chair closer to the door, he went back downstairs and out the front. Seeing Mischa's bike in the driveway, he grinned. Flipping open his phone, he hit the speed dial for Logan and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Logan, it's Alec."

"How's it going?"

"Well, that information you gave me about White turned out to be true. They showed up at her work, but I got her out. At the moment, we're at one of her friend's places laying low, because White's men have her place under surveillance. "

"She took you to a friends place?"

"Yeah. She said that if these people were as resourceful as they seemed to be, they would trace any electronic fund transferals connected with her debit and credit cards."

"Sounds like her Manticore training hasn't been completely lost."

"So, she's going to be coming back to TC with me. Can you get us on the next plane out?"

"I can probably arrange it for a day or two. "

Alec balanced the phone between his shoulder and sat on Mischa's bike. Flipping the stand back with his foot, he balanced the bike and finished his conversation with Logan.

"Okay. Anything else about White?'

"Nothing new. They're doing surveillance on her house, but that's it. As far as they're concerned, she's there and she doesn't know about them."

"Good. Let's hope it stays that way until we're on our way back to Seattle."

"Were you able to make a copy of that report that she gave her parents?"

"Yeah, I left it for a while to do something checking around. When I came back about 2 hours later, it was still there. I have a full copy of both the Manticore file as well as the notes that she made to go with it"

"Good. It could answer a lot of questions."

"Anyways, I'm gonna head up and get some sleep. I'll touch base with you later."

Closing his phone, he put it in his pocket before releasing the brake on the bike and rolling it into the garage that he had opened while talking to Logan. It was a beautiful bike, which looked to be either brand new or at least a year old. It was jet black with the hawk shaped headlights.

Alec knew his motorbikes, and this one was gorgeous. Different to the one he had back in Seattle and even to the Ninja that Max owned.This one had the 599cc liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder engine, dual stage fuel injected carburetor, computer-controlled digital transistorized with three-dimensional mapping. According to his knowledge, the Honda CBR600RR was one of the best.

_Might get me one of these when we get back home_

Closing the garage, he headed back up the stairs into the house. Just as he closed the front door and headed towards the stairs that would take him back to their room, he saw Andreas walk out of the living room and towards him. He nodded at him and hoped that he wouldn't want to talk but it seemed that whoever was in charge of the Universe had different ideas.

"Saw that you went outside to make a phone call. You could have just used my phone."

Alec smiled at him, groaning inwardly at the beginning of the conversation. All he was thinking about was getting into bed and getting a few hours of sleep in something comfortable.

"Well, Mischa forgot to put her bike in the garage, so I figured I would just make the call while I was out there doing that."

Andreas nodded in understanding. He knew what sort of relationship she had with her bike, and how she would react if something happened to it. Turning, he said,

"Want to join me in a drink?"

The tired part of Alec disagreed, but the other side of him agreed so Alec found himself smiling in agreement and following Andreas into, what looked like a formal living room. Andreas was standing behind a well stocked bar filling a small glass with some ice cubes.

"What's your poison?"

Setting himself down into a leather lounge chair, he crossed one leg over the other and rested his arms on the armrests.

"Scotch if you've got it."

"On the rocks or straight?'

"Straight up."

Quickly but quietly making their drinks, Andreas walked over to Alec and handed him his drink before sitting in the chair across from him and taking a sip of his vodka and orange.

"Are you and Mischa going on a trip?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Heard you talk about getting tickets to go somewhere."

Alec paused in taking a sip of his drink, his mind ticking over. He had only talked about that when he was on the phone with Logan a few minutes earlier. Deciding that he should probably stick to their story, he quickly took a mouthful and savored the taste of the scotch as it lightly burned down his throat.

"Well, we talked about going away, so I planned a surprise trip for us. A friend of mine was organizing it so she wouldn't know, which is what I was checking out."

"Whereabouts are you going?"

Raising his glass to his mouth again, he smiled slightly and pointed a finger at Andreas.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Don't want to ruin the surprise."

Andreas nodded again before getting up and getting the bottle of scotch from the bar and bringing it back over to Alec.

"Refill?"

"Why the hell not?"

After filling his glass, he went back to the bar and made himself up an apple martini. He knew that Alec and Mischa were together, but in his experience, you never knew what someone was into unless you straight out asked them, or made a move on them. Just as he was making his way over to Alec to see what might happen, Mischa appeared in the doorway, still wearing the tight tank top and her underwear. She looked like she'd been asleep, but had just woken up. It had been an hour since they had gone upstairs after dinner.

"Alec? I thought you were going to come straight to bed?"

Clearing his throat,Alec looked away from Mischa and swallowed the rest of the scotch before putting it on the table in front of his chair. Grinning at Andreas he shrugged and went to Mischa.

"Thanks for the drink Andreas. Just what the Doctor ordered."

Smiling slightly, Andreas picked Alec's glass up and went back to the bar.

"Not a problem. Anytime."

Taking his hand, Mischa put Alec's arm around her waist and reached up, cupping her hand around the back of his head. Standing on her tip toes, she whispered in his ear,

"I thought I should come out and save you before things got weird."

To Andreas, it looked like something completely different and he sighed silently. So much for the possibility of becoming better acquainted with Alec. Alec grinned and turned slightly into Mischa's hair, whispering back,

"You'll have to explain it to me."

Sighing again, Andreas watched as the two of them seemed to be whispering about what they were going to do later and saw Alec's grip tighten on Mischa's waist as well as his hand drifting a bit lower. Throwing back his martini, he started to make himself another one.

Standing on her feet again, but her hand around Alec's waist as well, she smiled at Andreas.

"Night Drea."

"Night Misch. Night Alec."

Slightly pulling Alec along, she lead them up the stairs and to their bedroom.

* * *

JeNsEns wifey ChAdZ lover:****I know you wanted this to be a Max/Alec fic, but I wanted to stick as close to the show as I could. Sorry :D I hope you still like it.

ZombieGurl98: thanks for the continued reviews! I really appreciate them!

Black Rose9: Thanks for the ideas and the review!

**_I know this one's a bit long, but please read and review!_**


	7. Bedtime Stories

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Six_**

**_Taya Guevera_**

* * *

As soon as the door closed, Mischa let go of Alec. She had to admit, the temptation to keep the story going even when Andreas couldn't see them was extremely strong, but the last thing she wanted was to start something with Alec. For all she knew, he had someone back in Seattle. Walking back over to the bed and getting back in it, she watched as Alec took his shirt off and put it over the same chair that had his jacket on it. Seeing his smooth,muscular chest, she swallowed hard and closed her eyes, pulling the covers over her head

_Alright, maybe there's more than one girl waiting for him back in Seattle._

Alec watched with a grin as Mischa hid her head under the covers of the bed. He wasn't stupid, he knew what effect he had on women, he'd been created that way. They all had been. But it appealed to his masculine ego to see it all the same.

He took his jeans off, folding them neatly before putting them with his shirt and jacket and, left only in his boxer shorts, walked over to the bed and got in beside Mischa. Feeling the bed move, a sign that Alec was in the bed with her, she uncovered her head and turned to face him. Alec was laying on his back, his hands behind his head, but feeling her move towards him, he glanced at her and grinned – something that Mischa knew could get very irritating in different circumstances.

"So, who's going to tell the bedtime story first?"

Alec raised an eyebrow.

"You sure you want to hear a bedtime story? I can think of something to do that's a lot more fun."

"God, you must think about sex 24/7."

"Pretty much. What can I say? I am male"

"I'm being serious here. You want to tell me your story first?"

"Okay."

Alec rolled onto his side, facing Mischa, and rested his head on his hand.

"Logan is a guy that works with us in Terminal City. He's like our IT guy. He's got contacts everywhere and helps us with determining risks, situations that we need to help out in—"

"Finding others like you who are out in the world and protecting them from danger—"

"Yeah, that sort of thing."

"But he's an Ordinary?"

"Yeah. It's kinda complicated."

"Break it down for me."

"A year or more ago now, Logan met one of us. An X5. Because of the work that he did, he knew about the talk of genetically engineered soldiers. But instead of turning her into Lydecker or even worse, exposing her to everyone, he helped her find her family. It was like a work agreement. She would help out with his work, and he would touch base with his contacts and find her family."

"Who was it?"

Mischa knew that it was only her unit who had referred to each other as family, so it must have been one of them – one of the 09 escapees.

"Max – 452."

Mischa felt like crying. She had wanted to believe all the time that Maxie had made it, but with her seizures being as bad as they had been when Zack gave the signal to go, she wasn't sure if she had made it at all on the outside.

"Thank God. I didn't know if she'd made it."

Alec nodded in understanding but continued.

"He was the one responsible for the destruction of Manticore which resulted in the release of all of Manticore's creations into the World – care of Max."

"What do you mean care of Max?"

"Logan had done an Eyes Only Broadcast which revealed the location of the secret facility which was 30 miles east of Seattle. Max was the one who sent it to air, and when Renfro and the Committee decided to lock down everyone in the barracks and burn it to the ground, she got everyone out."

"That's Maxie alright. I suppose Manticore wouldn't have appreciated her maternal instincts had we all stayed behind back in the day."

"No, can't say that they would have. But that's pretty much it."

Mischa was silent, but she watched Alec for a few minutes.

"That's not it. There's something else isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Max. You're in love with Max. But she's involved with this Logan right?

"In love? I wouldn't say that. I mean, I wouldn't mind a roll in the sack with her, hell, what guy wouldn't, but love is a little strong. I admire her a lot, and although she's hot as hell, there will never be anything between us."

"Is there a story behind that?"

"When Max was recaptured a year ago, we were assigned to be breeding partners. She didn't quite take to the idea and it was the beginning of our hate/hate relationship."

"Breeding partners? What about the DNA lab?"

"Max was recaptured when she and 3 of her brothers and sisters decided to destroy the DNA lab. So good ol' Manticore decided we should take care of it the old fashioned way. The remaining X5's were paired off into breeding partners with orders to 'copulate every night' until the females fell pregnant."

"That is sick."

"That's Manticore."

"True."

Mischa felt that by Alec's admission of his attraction to Max and his description of the goings on that lead to where they were today, she knew him a little better. She had correctly guessed somewhere along the way that the annoying, arrogant-as-hell Alec was a façade to protect himself from others.

"So, now I've told my story, what about yours? What's the deal between you and Andreas? Don't leave anything out!"

Laughing lightly, Mischa shifted a little closer to Alec and could feel the heat of his leg near hers under the covers. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes and thought back. How far to go?

"Well, Andreas and I met at an interesting stage of my life. I was about 15 when it first happened—"

"Heat."

"Yeah. It was embarrassing as hell, but from what I can tell, there's not a lot you can do about it."

"Not a lot, no."

"So, I was out, on the prowl, but not really knowing it, just acting on instinct, and Andreas ended up being the guy that I jumped."

"So, what happened after that?"

"He's about 3 years older than me, and we never had a 'proper' relationship, but when it's that time, we hook up. It's like a baser need that both of us need to fulfill. Not on a regular basis, but every now and then."

"But you seem really close. He's always watching you."

Mischa laughed and put her head down on the mattress, trying not to laugh too hard.

"Actually, he's looking at you. Yeah, we close, yes, we screw once or twice every 3 or 4 months, but that boy's as camp as a tent peg. That's what I meant about fulfilling a baser need. He doesn't sleep with women, and I don't want to hook up with some different guy every 3 or 4 months. It works out this way. He doesn't know that I can't control my urges at the time, but it's his way of trying the whole heterosexual thing. If that makes sense."

"So, he's gay, but you guys have sex when you're in heat."

"Yeah."

"Sure, that makes a lot of sense."

"Alec. It's difficult to explain anyway, but it does actually work out for us. It's his way of proving that he's supposed to be what he is. And hell, if I can't change his mind, especially when I'm in heat, then I guess he's gay to the core."

"Guess so."

They both stopped talking, lost in their own thoughts until Alec remembered what she said earlier.

"You said downstairs that you thought you would come and get me before things got weird. What did you mean?"

"When we got here, I took a look at you and thought, 'Andreas is going to think it's Christmas time, and you're his present.' Which is why I got you to play this charade with me. But, even though we're acting like a couple, and very convincingly I might add, Andreas' theory is that you never know how someone may swing until you give them the option. When I heard him invite you for a drink, I knew that he was going to make a move. It's his game plan – drinks, talking, moving closer then moving on."

"I think I owe you a massive favor for that one."

"It's nothing. Besides, I think he wasn't too sure that you would turn against me for him."

Giving her his charming smirk, he gave her the once over. Looking into her green eyes he felt himself relax – much like the time he and Max had their heart to heart talk that night she busted him out of jail. Still looking her in the eyes, he moved forward a little more until they were breathing each other's breath. Still grinning and feeling both of their body temperatures rise just a little, he said,

"If we were together, it would take a lot more than a few drinks to get me away from you."

Mischa reminded herself of her earlier decision to keep herself away from Alec, but when she saw him like this, her mind tried to talk her out of it. Licking her bottom lip, she looked into his eyes and saw that he meant it. They were still close together when she took a deep breath and smiled.

"Goodnight Alec."

"Night Mischa."

Rolling onto her other side, she put her arm underneath her pillow so her hand was dangling over the side of the bed and rested her other hand lightly over her hip. Now, if she had met someone like Alec earlier, she wouldn't have had any of the boyfriend problems that she'd had over the years, and she wouldn't have her sex-buddy relationship with Andreas either. Reflecting over the events of that day, Mischa felt sleep creep up on her, and with a light sigh, fell into the soft arms of fatigue.

When she rolled away from him, Alec felt cold. It wasn't a move of anger or shutting herself off from him, just a move to get comfortable and to break away from the tension between them. The tension was there, and it was strong. He had the same tension between Max and himself, but it was never this strong. He'd felt it as soon as he'd gotten on the swing next to her at the park the day before. Rolling over so his back was facing hers, he sighed and closed his eyes. A lot had happened in the time he'd been here in Australia. Finding Mischa, finding out that White was hanging around, meeting Mischa, having to move Mischa and get her to come to Seattle with him and then Andreas. He guessed that on some level he'd known all was not right with Andreas, but he hadn't taken much notice.

_Maybe it was the energy that ran between him and Mischa. Which is just a result of her heat cycles. Whatever it is, I don't like it._

With that surprising thought, he sighed again and felt his body completely relax as sleep over took him.

* * *

****

**_Please read and review!_**


	8. Memories

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Seven_**

**_Taya Guevera_**

* * *

**_Gillette, Wyoming – Winter 2009 _**

_"Eva."_

_"Zack? What's wrong?"_

_"It's Max. Her seizure's are worse."_

_"We have to cover them up. We don't want what happened to Jack to happen to her."_

_"I know. That's why I've made a decision."_

_"What sort of decision Zack?"_

_"We're leaving. I'm not letting them take Maxie."_

_Closing her eyes, Eva nodded slowly. She knew that it would eventually come to this. Max was the youngest of them, the one that they all loved the most and would do anything for. Even if she disagreed with Zack, he was their CO, and as the 2IC, it was her job to back his decision. Sitting up on her bunk, she swung her legs across the bed so her feet met the floor. Silently, both Zack and Eva made their way from bunk to bunk, motioning frantically with the hand signals that Manticore had taught them, that they were about to leave._

_Silently, yet quickly, their entire unit of twelve was assembled at the door to their barracks, Max between Jondy and Zack. Quietly opening the door, Eva peered out into the corridor and saw that it was empty, her enhanced hearing picking up nothing close by. Signalling to the rest that it was all clear, she stayed by the door while the rest of them jogged out and down the corridor. Because Zack's attention was busy with Max, it was her job to be the lookout and to plan the best way of getting out of there. Rounding a corner, Eva was surprised by a Soldier on his hourly rounds. Stunned, but not frozen, Eva executed a perfect roundhouse kick to the soldier's shoulder and a solid punch to his ribcage, knocking him to the ground. Crouching next to the soldier, Eva took his head between her arm and slightly applied pressure to his windpipe, just enough to knock him unconscious. She may have been trained to be a killer, but it wasn't something that she felt was necessary at this point._

_Standing again, and nodding into the darkness, the green-mirrored eyes of her brothers and sisters reflected back at her as they rounded the corner and came towards her. Not wanting to take any chances, Eva took the pistol from the unconscious soldiers holster and quickly checked the magazine and safety. Everything was ready to go. If need be, Eva was ready to shoot their way out of this Manticore hell._

_A few more meters down the dark corridor, Eva heard the telltale footsteps of four soldiers. Holding her hand up, fist closed, she motioned for everyone to stop and wait. She knew that somehow, the alarm had been risen that they were out of their barracks. This was the Manticore 'brigade' on it's way to retrieve them. Seeing their number one enemy, Lydecker, leading the group walking down the corridor, Eva decided to play on his sentimentality that they were his 'children'. Bringing the stolen pistol in front of her, she aimed it at Lydecker, wishing for just a moment that she could kill him without a second thought. She knew that they were the best of Manticore's creations to date, and she was counting on Lydecker's feelings towards them. He wouldn't kill her._

_Feeling her brothers and sisters beside and behind her, she didn't have to glance at any of them to know that they weren't going to back to their barracks to play perfect soldiers anymore. They had past the point of no return. Looking straight into Lydecker's eyes, she saw him take note of who was there, and saw his eyes falter on Max, her seizures no longer able to be hidden. When Max had followed Jack out of the barracks that night when they took him away because of his seizures, she had come back with the horrible story of what she had seen them do to him. They had taken him apart, piece by piece looking at everything they could to determine where they went wrong – why their perfect soldier was now broken. It had taken Zack 4 hours to get the story out of her that night. She also mentioned that Lydecker had been there, watching, and comfortably drinking a cup of coffee during the surgery. From that moment on, our mutual hate of him grew stronger._

_Lydecker knew what would happen to his favorite X5 – Max – if they took her away. There was no way he would be able to save her. Eva saw the moment he made his decision, it reflected in his eyes. The pistol in his hand seemed to have a mind of it's own, raising slowly towards her. She knew that he had called his own bluff, yet at the same time, had decided to let her family live, if they could, for the time being._

_In what seemed like slow motion, Eva saw the flash of the gun powder from the pistol and had slowly positioned herself into a different pose so as to absorb the bullet, but not fatally. However, it still got her in the chest. Falling backwards, she watched as Zack, Max , Jondy, Zane, Tinga, Krit, Syl and the others watched her lying there, bleeding, realizing that they thought she was dead. She wanted to show them somehow that she wasn't, but she felt paralysed by the pain. She caught Zack's eye movements as he pushed back his emotions over her 'death' and lead the rest of them to freedom. At least, that was what she hoped as the blackness enveloped her and the pain started to dull on the cold, dark, linoleum corridor._

_

* * *

_

**_6 months later _**

_"What is your designation?"_

_"Eva!"_

_ZAP! The electrodes attached to her body sent a bolt of electricity through her body. Genetically engineered she may be, but superhuman, she wasn't._

_"What is your designation?"_

_"EVA!"_

_ZAP!_

_"What is your designation?"_

_"E-V-A!"_

_ZAP! ZAP! _

_On and on and on, all with the same response. For a 10 year old, she was extremely stubborn. The scientists doing the torturing continually reported back to Lydecker, who told them to up the voltage of the electric current. Even though the Scientists stressed how dangerous it was, he was adamant. _

_  
After months of 'electro therapy' Lydecker and the Committee decided that perhaps they had made the X5's too independent, something that was proven through the continual psy-ops results from the remaining X5's and especially the clones of the escaped 09ers. Running Eva through the same rigorous psy-ops procedures that the clones were exposed to, the Committee felt that the independence of each of them could be suppressed possibly eliminated altogether through a barrage of mental images and commands that were imposed on the X5's through months of long procedures._

_On day, it became too much. She was in continuous pain, but that was what they wanted her to be in. She didn't flinch when they brought the laser machine to the side of her chair, and she didn't blink when they put the wire cage in her eye, forcing it to stay open. She didn't make a sound as the laser began to burn into the back of her head, showing images of her family, laying dead on the snowy grounds outside of Manticore.but she couldn't control the lone tear that ran down the side of her face. Her last sign of independence and rebellion_

_The flashes of her designation – X5-766 were replaced with X5-391, the faces and designations of her brothers and sisters flashed in her mind, alongside words like TRAITOR, BETRAYAL, TURNCOAT, ALONE. As the months went on, the electrodes were removed, and other forms of torture were used, poison, injury, and isolation with the Nomalies. Slowly, the memories of her family and their sense of unity began to fade after the months of re-indoctrination began to take root in her mind. She could feel herself slip away._

_For a 10 year old, it was easier to give in than to keep fighting._

**_

* * *

_****_1 year later _**

_"What is your designation?"_

_"X5-391 Sir!"_

_"What is your unit?"_

_"I have no unit Sir!"_

_"What is your name?"_

_X5-391 stood to attention, her hair once again cut short to military style, and her fatigues immaculately kept. The cell that she now called home was spotless, her bunk crisply made. Staring straight ahead, she didn't blink as Lydecker stood infront of her, repeating the same question._

_"Soldier, I asked you a question, and I expect a response. What is your name?"_

_"Sir, X5-391 Sir!"_

_Standing at full attention, X5-391 didn't notice the triumphant smile that flashed on Lydecker's face. It had taken a while, proving to himself that she was one of the best they had created, but here was proof that everything could be broken, in time._

_"Good work Soldier. Report to Barracks 9 Alpha for your training."_

_"Yes Sir!"_

_Watching X5-391 leave the cell, Lydecker walked a few paces behind her, watching her to her destination. He had plans for this one. Her brothers and sisters might think she was dead, and since he had removed her from circulation with the remaining X series, she had been used as an example of what happens to those who don't play by the rules. They had accomplished a lot of work thanks to 391. He paused by the windows of 9 Alpha, seeing her stand at attention, and salute the officer. Watching their interaction, Lydecker remembered that he had a meeting with the Committee in 20 minutes. Glancing into the room, he saw that the Officer was treating her no different than he would his other kids. Nodding once to him through the window, he walked away and made his way to the Conference Room in the Command Center._

_Finally, some positive news to give The Committee._

_

* * *

_

I wanted to do a little background information for the next chapter. If I've gotten some of the information wrong, I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me:D

**You know the drill, please read and review!**


	9. Flip Side of the same Coin

**_Not Quite Dead – Chapter Eight_**

_**Taya Guevera**_

* * *

_BANG! _

_Falling backwards, Eva felt the fire from the bullet in her chest spread to the rest of her body. Hitting the cold floor, her eyes were stuck open, as she was forced to watch as her brothers and sisters were gunned down after her. Rolling to her side, the pain filled eyes of Max, her youngest sister, looked at her, her shaking hand reaching towards her, wanting help. As Eva watched, the light in those deep brown eyes, the eyes that lit up when Ben told his stories at nighttime, started to fade as her hand started to fall, the life leaving her._

_Looking over Max's now lifeless body, Eva saw Zack attack two of the guards, snapping their necks in seconds of each other, but two shots from Lydecker's gun ended Zack's triumph. Falling forward, with nothing to stop the impact, the dead body of her CO, and oldest brother hit the floor, the sound echoeing through Eva's mind. Noticing that there was no one left alive, Eva rolled over and came face to face with Lydecker. _

_"Soldier, this is all your fault. You killed your family." _

_The pistol that had shot her once, leveled off at her head and struggling to take a deep breath, the blood filling her lungs, she screamed as the gun fired and everything went black.

* * *

_

Not being a deep sleeper, Alec heard Mischa scream next to him. Sitting up and pulling her next to him, he wrapped his arms around her and ran his hand up and down her back. 

"Mischa! Mischa baby, wake up. It's just a dream." 

Her eyes opened, but they saw nothing except what was in her mind. Still screaming, Mischa struggled against Alec's hold over her, and when she couldn't get free, she passed out. Holding her tightly, he started to move gently, backwards and forwards. He didn't know what she was dreaming about, but it was obviously something that held a tight grip on her mind. Her breathing slowed down after a few minutes, so Alec softly called her name.

"Mischa? Please wake up."

After a few seconds, her eyes opened and startled, she jerked straight. Letting her go, but staying were he was, Alec kept his hands in front of him and gave a small smile.

"Hey, it's just me." 

Nodding, Mischa took a deep breath and looked around. Her gaze coming back to Alec, he saw that her eyes were full of unshed tears.

"Are you okay?"

Not saying a word, Mischa shook her head and closed her eyes, the tears slowly running down her face. Taking her into his arms again, he spoke quietly to her, trying to make her stop crying.

"It was just a dream Misch. Nothing more. It wasn't true."

"It felt so true."

Pulling back slightly, Alec put his hand on the side of her face, using his thumb to wipe away the tears.

"What happened?"

"I was back at Manticore, and I got everyone killed."

"Manticore doesn't exist anymore, so you don't need to worry about it." 

"You don't understand." 

"Then tell me." 

"I was 10 again, and we were trying to escape, except, instead of everyone but me getting out, it turned into a bloodbath. Everyone was killed, and Lydecker told me that it was my fault, that I led my family to this. He left me alive until the end, so I would see what happened to the rest of them." 

"Lydecker was a sick bastard Mischa. You know that. But it was just a dream." 

"Then why does it feel like it was true? That all the problems that they came up against on the outside weren't my fault?"

"Because that's what they do, it's part of their brainwashing thing." 

"When I escaped years later, it took me months to get rid of what they brainwashed me with." 

They stopped talking, the silence strangely comfortable. Maybe it was because Mischa knew that Alec knew what she was talking about; where she was coming from. For the first time, Mischa had someone to talk to about what she went through back at Manticore, and that person wasn't judging her.

* * *

Glancing at his watch, he noticed that the time was a little after lunch. The reports from the night's surveillance had come up empty. According to the reports, there was no activity at the house all night. The lights went off around 11pm, one by one, not all at once, which made them eliminate the idea of a timing device and every phone call put through to the place had been picked up, and not by an answering machine.

Tugging at the knot in his tie, but leaving it still on, White sat down at the desk in his makeshift office. Because the Pulse had never happened here in Australia, it was easy for them to come in and claim juridiction over a case in the city through the local law enforcement. Also, it was a hell of a lot cheaper as the police in Australia weren't corrupt like their Seattle counterparts. Looking at the few phone messages that were left on his desk during the early morning, White decided that it was time to take another look at the problem at hand, and from a fresher, more reliable source.

"Otto!"

The latino looking agent walked up to the open door and stuckhis head inside.

"Yes sir?"

"Get me our informant on the phone. Seeing as we spent the night casing 391's house to no avail, maybe she'll be able to put us in the right direction this time."

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and Otto?"

"Sir?"

"Make sure you keep a trace on her phone at all times. I don't want our only lead on this Manticore brat to suddenly disappear on us."

"Yes sir."

Relaxing slightly, knowing that he had placed the job in the capable hands of his second in charge, White put his feet up on the desk and leaned back on his chair. For all purposes, White was just another guy doing his job, with no one in Australia being the wiser for it. Opening the top drawer, he pulled out the last photo he had of Ray, his son, still missing from when 452 and her sidekick had taken him from The School. He still didn't know if his son was alive, but knowing 452, she wouldn't have the heart to kill him.

"For a genetically engineered super soldier, she sure lacks that killer instinct" he muttered to himself as he set his mind to a more pleasant topic. The many ways in which he would torture 452 to get the location of his son.

_

* * *

_

Alec watched as Mischa busied herself around the kitchen. They had spent a few hours talking over things in their bedroom, and had eventually decided to come downstairs for something to eat. Letting Mischa take control of it, Alec had seated himself on a stool at the breakfast bar. He had only pulled his jeans on over his boxer shorts, being told by Mischa earlier that Andreas would be at work until later in the evening. Mischa had pulled her jeans on as well, but was wearing a tight singlet top, that didn't really leave much to Alec's imagination, but granted, his imagination was usually a lot more active than that of most guys in the world.

"There's some left over chicken, stuff I can use to make a salad if you want, some wine, which I'm definitely having, and some left over steamed rice."

Turning around from having her head buried in the fridge, she glanced at Alec, who'd caught himself staring at her. She was very different to Max physically, but at the same time, so much the same. He couldn't quite explain it, but there was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on, and whatever it was, it was drawing him in at a fast pace.

"Chicken sounds great. It's not exactly something that one comes by on a regular basis back in Seattle."

Turning around back into the fridge, Mischa felt her face heat up slightly at the look that Alec had been giving her earlier. Grabbing the chicken and the fixings for a salad, she closed the door with her hip and put everything on the counter in between herself and Alec.

"Really? How come?"

"One of the side effects of the Pulse I guess. Things that people took for granted, such as chicken, became a hot commodity on the black market. So unless you're happy to be paying up to 200 for a pound of chicken, then you're going to have to do without."

"Can't have everything I suppose."

Picking one of the carrots out of the salad stuff, Alec thoughtfully took a bite from it. Usually carrots weren't something that he would choose as something to munch on, but because he couldn't recall the last time he'd actually eaten one, he kept eating it.

"I'm sorry about earlier." He heard Mischa softly say.

"Hey, it's not a problem. Don't ever feel like you have to apologise about it to me. I understand what it was like. Hell, most of the X5's who were left behind after the 09 escape probably had the same dreams."

Nodding silently, Mischa looked at Alec thoughfully, then, with a sparkle in her eye, grabbed the half eaten carrot from Alec's hand and took a bite. Stunned, Alec didn't move a muscle to save his food, but raised an eyebrow when she handed it back to him, minus the two bites she had taken.

"Thanks for sharing." She said with a grin and she bent over and started rummaging through the shelves looking for the frying pan so she could cook the chicken.

Knowing that his mind was wandering to places he knew wasn't good for it, Alec stood up, carrot in one hand, the other in his jeans pocket, and walked into the next room. The house was about half as big as Rachel Barrisford's had been, but the design and decoration of the place made it feel bigger. On one side of the room sat the massive stereo system that he'd eyed off when they first arrived the night before. Walking over to it, he looked for the power button, only to hear Mischa yell from the kitchen.

"The remote is on the coffee table just near you."

Silently raising the nearly finished carrot in thanks, Alec grinned as his eyes landed on the 'remote' on the coffee table. It looked like a mini screen. Picking it up, he sat on the coffee table and gave it the quick once over before touching the screen. As soon as his finger came into contact with it, the screen lit up, revealing 8 different boxes/functions. Pressing stereo, he heard music softly come out of the speakers that were positioned around the room. From the sounds of it, it was a latin mix, definitely something worth dancing too, but Alec was man/X5 enough to admit that dancing wasn't exactly his forte.

Putting the remote back onto the table, he turned the volume up a little bit and walked back into the kitchen. Although he'd only been out of the room for not even 10 minutes, he could see that their 'lunch' was almost ready. The chicken was smelling fantastic, and the faint aroma of the now open wine bottle was enticing. Glancing around for Mischa, he didn't see her as he made his way to the frying pan on the stove and took a deeper smell. Quickly sticking his finger in the juices, he brought it to his lips and tasted the seasoning that Mischa had put on the chicken.

"Taste nice?"

Smiling, Alec turned around and leant against the bench next to the stove top. Raising an eyebrow, he shrugged.

"Tastes fine to me, but maybe you should check for yourself."

Walking towards him, she stood in front of him and brought her face close to his. Looking him straight in the eye, she raised her own eyebrow and smiled.

"If you insist." She said, slowly bringing his finger, with some of the sauce still on it, to her mouth. Moving away slightly, she took it into her mouth and nearly laughed at the shocked expression on his face as she slowly sucked the remains of the sauce off his finger. Licking her lips, she grinned at Alec.

"Always loved Cajun seasoning."

_

* * *

_

"Agent White?"

"What is it Otto?"

"We have the informant of the phone sir. Line 4."

"Good job Otto. I'll take it."

"Yes sir."

Making sure Otto had closed the door behind him, White sat up in his chair and leant forward, picking the phone up from it's cradle and pressed the button for Line 4.

"This is Special Agent White."

"I understand that you watched her house all night but nothing came up."

"That's right. Maybe you're doing this to give us the run around."

"That's not true, and you know it. I want you to get this thing away from me and my family as soon as you can."

Leaning forward, his elbows on the desk, he frowned into the phone.

"And why is that? I haven't been able to understand what it is that brought you to report her to us."

"Let's just say it's of a personal nature."

"Personal as in she stole your boyfriend, or she took your job and this is payback?"

"None of the above, and I don't think it's really any of your concern. I just want you to get her as soon as possible to get rid of her. She's caused enough problems as it is. Do you want my help or not?"

"So far your help has opened the case considerably, however I would be more at ease if I knew who you were and why this was such an important issue for you."

"Then I guess you're going to have to remain uncomfortable Agent White. I'll give you some addresses of some of her friends. Maybe she's staying with one of them now that she's disappeared."

Squeezing the phone in his hand, and wanting to smash it against the wall at the woman's stubbornness to reveal herself, he got a pen and paper from his side tray and took a deep breath.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it."

"It is."

"What are the addresses?"

_

* * *

_

10 minutes later, White walked out of his office and towards the Korean experts that they had brought with them from the States – the ones who had found him Eyes Only.

"Report."

"It looks like the phone call originated from an area called Applecross. It's south of the Swan River."

"Have we got an ID on the caller yet?"

"Still working on it sir. Should be ready in about 5 minutes."

"Good. I'll be in my office."

"Yes sir."

Walking back into his office, he called Otto in before closing the door. Walking around bhind his desk, he once again took his position in his comfortable office chair.

"Otto, she gave me a list of some people she thinks she may be staying with. I want you to get a team together and check them out. I just want a routine surveillance on the addresses, no TAC teams. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

As Otto turned to leave, the door opened with the same technician who worked with the Korean computer analyists.

"Sir, we have an identification."

"What's her name?"

_

* * *

_

**_Sorry it's been a long time coming. I've written and re written this chapter about 5 times. I was going to go with a more Mischa/Alec centric chapter talking about their lives in the real world (blah, blah, blah) but thought that White needed some attention as well. I'm playing Alec the way that I am because I think, in the show, both Max and Alec seem to bring out the worst in each other... attitude wise, so I'm picturing Alec to be a lot like he was in The Berrisford Agenda normally..._**

**_Sorry to leave it hanging like this though… well, no, not really :D I'd be interested to hear who y'all think it might be though._**

**_As usual, thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really do appreciate them!_**

**Black Rose9 – No, I don't watch the OC. I triedwatching one episode, and lost interest about 5 minutes in.**

**ZombieGurl98 – thanks for being such a great reviewer! You're great for the ego! lol**


	10. Lies and Betrayal

_**Not Quite Dead – Chapter Nine **_

_**Taya Guevera**_

* * *

Logan was at his usual place, sitting in front of his computer, still living in the dilapidated house that Joshua used to call home. Occasionally he would check in with Terminal City (namely Max) via computer link up, but other than that, he was continuing to rebuild his Eyes Only operation. That's why, when Donald Lydecker walked through the front door, he was more than a little surprised.

"Dek. Didn't think I'd be seeing you any time in the near future. To what do I owe this house visit?"

Taking in the surroundings, Lydecker had to admit that his original opinion of Logan Cale wasn't that of a person who lived in a place like this. He took him to be more of an upper class man. Noticing his glances around the room, Logan got up and walked over to the fireplace. It was still winter in Seattle, and the cold was insanely unbearable in this house as compared to his previous residence.

"There was an emergency and I had to relocate in a hurry."

Nodding in understanding, Lydecker crossed over to the bookshelf and started to look through the titles before answering Cale's earlier question.

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I would check in and see whether you had any new information in regards to the X5 I gave you information on."

Now understanding, Logan threw a couple of logs onto the now roaring fire and took a seat back at his computer.

"Well, we've had some developments, but nothing terribly important yet."

"Developments such as?"

"White's been tipped that she's there, so my guy is bringing her back here as soon as I can get the paperwork done."

"Your guy being?"

"Alec."

"Ah, 494. He was the textbook soldier before Berrisford."

"_Alec_," Logan stressed, making sure Lydecker knew that the X5 had a real name, not just a number, "went to Australia a few days ago just to watch her and keep tabs on her movements. But he found out that White's been tipped to her existence as well, so it became essential to get her out of there. "

"And you're bringing her back here."

"To Seattle, yes."

"Are you going to tell Max?"

There was a pause while Lydecker absentmindedly flicked through the pages of a book, but his attention was on the man behind the computer. Logan kept eye contact with him, but found he couldn't answer the question. Putting the book back on the shelf, Lydecker took a seat on the chair next to the table and rested his arm on the armrest. Idly tapping his fingers on it, he lowered his voice and continued.

"Every Manticore soldier that was under my command knows the story of Eva and how I shot her to prevent an escape. It's been one of the many controlling devices we've had with the remaining X5's that were stationed at our bases. To tell Max now that her older sister, her unit's 2IC has been alive all this time could do more damage than good at this point."

Finding his voice, Logan pushed down the guilt he felt at making such an important decision for someone who wasn't there to understand.

"The original idea wasn't to bring her back at all. But since the 'objective' has changed, and she's coming back, Alec and I have decided that it would be easiest to maintain the story that she is X5-391 aka Mischa and that she was a unit member of Alec's until she was sent on a deep cover mission that took her to Australia. Whether Mischa wants to tell Max who she really is is up to her."

Nodding again, Lydecker kept looking at Logan, his mind ticking over the possible advantages there would be should 494 be able to successfully bring 391 back to Terminal City. After a few minutes silence, he stood again and nodded silently to Logan, who was still seated behind his computer. Walking towards the door, he turned.

"I'll be in touch."

_

* * *

_

"Anyone know where Alec is?"

It was just another day in a broken world with Max trying to make that broken world a little more transgenic friendly. She had been hard at work with a few other X5's finding rooms for the newer transgenics who had shown up after the incident at Jam Pony, but it had been a few days now and she hadn't seen Alec, let alone heard anyone talk about him.

Sitting at the desk in the Command Center, polishing his pump action shot gun (his baby) and chewing on the end of his ever smoking cigar, Mole shrugged.

"Haven't heard from Princess since he left to see Logan a few days back."

Max had been walking past the table where Mole had his feet up, but stopped short when he mentioned Logan's name. She hadn't heard from him in the past week, and was surprised that he would ask Alec to do something for him. Especially with the 'I'm with him, not you. We're over. Get used to it' speech she had given him only months before.

"Really. He went to see Logan?"

"Yeah. Said he wouldn't be long. But then again, with Princess' attention span together with the fact that he's able to walk out and about with the ordinaries again, chances are that he's conducting a little 'supply and demand'."

Rolling her eyes at his innuendo, Max walked up the stairs to the computer terminal set up for the usually frequent computer link ups with Logan back at Joshua's house. Seeing Luke playing around with some computer hardware at the other table, she took a seat infront of the screen and pressed the space bar. Luke had set it up earlier that when the program was running, they could connect with the other terminal, much like a regular phone call, by pressing the space bar. To disconnect worked the same way.

Logan's face appeared almost instantaneously.

"Hello? "

"Hey you."

"Max. Hey. What's up?"

"Mole mentioned that Alec met up with you the other day."

"Yeah, I had something I wanted to ask him to do for me."

"Have you heard from him since?"

Logan swallowed. He had hoped that since she hadn't contacted him yet, that he wouldn't have to worry about her worrying when she couldn't get in touch with Alec. Of course, he should have known better. Ever since Terminal City became the headquarters for the Transgenics within Seattle, and Max it's leader, Alec had become the second in charge, much to Logan's chagrin, but it seemed that it was position that he was actually made for.

"Ah, actually I heard from him yesterday."

"Where the hell is he? There's stuff here that he's supposed to be helping out with."

"Um, right. Well, there was an Eye's Only thing I needed him to do for me. It's taken a little longer than either of us thought it would."

"Really. And you didn't think that I should be in the loop about this?"

"Max, it's not like that. It was something that I needed Alec to do. With your new job as leader of the Transgenics of Seattle, I couldn't really ask you to do this for me."

"Do what? What is Alec doing?"

"He's checking on a lead we got about a transgenic…. From his unit back at Manticore."

"Someone from his old unit?"

"Yeah. He didn't know that she had made it, so when we got a heads up on her location, I thought the best person to follow it up would be Alec himself."

"Right. And just where is her location?"

"It's ah, well, it's kind of in Australia."

"Australia?"

"Yeah."

"What is she doing over there?"

"Alec remembered something about her going on a deep cover mission that took her there, and she was there when Manticore was taken down, so she's stayed there since."

Logan realized that he was just rambling, but there was no way he could just blurt out the truth. Sure, this was Max, the girl of his dreams, but he wasn't going to let her in on this 'mission' until it was absolutely necessary.

"So he's in Australia, searching for a Unit member."

"Right."

"But neither of you thought that you should maybe, just possibly let me know that he was going out of the country for a few days."

"Well.. no."

"No?"

"Max, it was a last minute thing. Both Alec and myself thought he'd be back by now, but there have been some changes to the original plan."

"Changes."

"Yeah."

"Do I get to know what those are, or am I not on the need to know list yet?"

"Well, I think I'll leave it to Alec's discretion."

"You're leaving it to Alec's discretion to let me in the loop."

"That's what I said."

"Logan."

"Max."

"Fine. Whatever. Forget I ever asked about anything. When you hear from Alec next, tell him that I'm pissed with him, more than usual."

"Right."

"Oh, and tell him that when he gets his ass back to Seattle, that he'd better have a damn good excuse for his little sojourn abroad."

"Max, I already told you—"

"As if I believe you Logan. You and Alec have never been all buddy-buddy, and now I'm supposed to believe that you're covering his ass for him? Right. Just tell him what I said."

Without waiting for his reply, Max hit the spacebar and cut the connection.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Turning in her seat, she saw Mole standing on the stairs, his shotgun now resting against his shoulder, his cigar still smoking.

"Shut up Mole. Isn't there some sort of security thing you're supposed to be looking at?"

"No need to bite my head off oh fearless leader of ours, just askin'"

"Well, it's none of your business."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good."

Watching Mole walk away and out the door, Max turned her chair back to the computer screen that was now blank apart from the floating screen saver that Luke had made of Joshua's flag waving in the wind above their 'City." Lightly touching the screen, she tried to remember what her life was like before she destroyed Manticore and turned it's creations out into the hostile world that wasn't ready for them.

She knew that there was something that Logan wasn't telling her about why Alec was in Australia supposedly looking for an ex-Unit member of his from the good ol' Manticore days, but that wasn't the issue. Since she had broken him out of Jail that time he had been mistaken for Ben and held for the murder of Timothy Ryan which led to her telling him about how she had killed him in the forrest that day, they had formed a friendship that was closer and deeper than any friendships that either of them had had before. Maybe it was because of their shared childhood experiences together with the last year of spending so much time together, but it caused Max to worry about him quite a lot. He was a lot like a brother, but at the same time he wasn't. She supposed that was because technically, he was a copy of Ben, who had been her brother, but because at the same time, they were so different, he was the non brother brother that she never had.

Shaking her head at the irony of it, she got out of the chair, remembering that she had a 'lunch date' with Joshua that she had been looking forward to all day. Since the siege at Jam Pony, she realized that Joshua had grown up a lot, become a lot more independent, but at the same time, he was still the little boy that wanted to know everything and anything. Spending time with her Big Fella was a lot like having a vacation without leaving home, which is why she loved spending time with him.


End file.
